Stair, ladder, and the like



4 Sheets-Sheet l W. W.4SMITH ET AL STAIR, LADDER AND THE LIKE Filed Nov. 5, 1926 Oct.. 16, 192s.

Oct. 16, 1928.

W. W. SMITH ET AL STAIR, LADDER AND THE LIKE 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet Filed Nov. .3,

o ,al MM@ @www y gter-Acq STAIR, LADDER, AND THE LIKE 4 sheets-Sheet Filed Nov. s, 192e .m 1 3W@ .w mw i F. lo 9 3 a a an I -1:21 0 M f w Ww l 1 n 45u u 5 n n n "/M u n u z ,M z 0 n l vv l l l I l 1 n I u 1 llVll 0a. 16, 192s. i 1,688,210

- W. W. SMITH ET L STAIR, LADDER, AND THE LIKE Filed Nov. 3, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 llla WAY/failli, Vemonrevelleyan M4/Isole lf/me# atto: nu'

Patented @et les,

ra'rsnr orties.

YTALLACE W'. kSMITH AND VERIEGN TBEVLELLYA, GF GHCAGO, ILLNOIS, ANI)l STAIR, LAL'BEE,

Application inea' november 3, lees.

The invention relates to stairs, ladders `and' the like and has as an object the provision o1 new and improved articles oi the character mentioned and a method i'or producing the same each from a single piece of material.

1t is an object oi' the invention toV produce 'from a single piece of material a flight ofk stairs or a ladder which willV be cheaper to produce and have improved characteristics as a structure.

il iurther object oi the,y invention is to pro duce a ladder from a single piece ot material by a process o1 the expanding metaltype.

lt is a further object-0i the invention to produce a flight of stairs from a single piece oi material without the waste of any importantportion 0i' the material..

lt is a further object oi the invention toprovide aprocess for producing a Hight of stairs from a single piece oi material with a minimum of labor. K

lt is a further objectof the invention to provide a process oi producing a flight ofV stairs having treads and stringers of pleasing appearance and ot great strength from a single piece of materialv without waste of material.

lt is a further object of the invention to provide a process of producing a flight of stairs which can be almost entirely carried out by machinery without labor applied to the assembly thereof.

1t is a further object of the invention to provide a process of producing a ight oi. stairs vtrom material' ot only su'licient weight to produce the strength necessary in the coinpleted article whereby to reduce the tonnage oi the metal required to produce-tlie-stairs necessary in an entire building.y n

1t is a further ob'ect of theY invention to provide a process of producing stairs or ladders which will malreit possible to produce these articles at a tonnage cost of production markedly greater than. the tonnage cost oi producing the remainder' ofthe steel worlr for the steel building in which the stairs are to be used..

lllustrative embodiments vof the. articles provided by the invention and the steps oi the process for producing the same are shown in. the accompanying, drawings wherein Fig. 1 is a plan view o1' a blank for produc- TATGN'. VIEGINA.

elial No. 1115.984.

ing a iiight ot' stairs from a single plate showing the fold lines thereof in dash lines and showing the lines oi shearing in 'iull lines;

Fig. 2 is a center vertical section ofi' a flight oistairs showing the successive positions occupied by the treads and nosing of the stairs as they are bent out of the plane or the plate and showing in side elevation one of the stringers of the stairs bent to its finished position.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 ot'lii' 1;

TEig. 4i is a transverse section of a flight oi stairs vshowing a modified form of stringer;

Fig. 5 is a detail section on liney 5-5' of Fig.. 2;. the parts being broken away and broi'igli-t together to reduce the width of thel figure;

6 is section online 6 5 of Fig. 7

Eig. 7 is an elevation oi flight of stairs oi' the form shown in Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive;

Fig. 8 is a plan view of a portion of a modiiied form o1a bl anlr Sis a center vertical section ofi' a flight oi stairs produced from the blanl'r oi Fig. 8; 10 is a transverse section on linelQ--lO oi" Fig. 9;

Fig. 11 is a pla-nview of a still further inod-V iied form of blank;

Fig. 12 is a plan of a flight of' stairs produced from theblank of Fig. 11 g' Fi 13 is a section on line 18-13 VoiT Fig. 12 g Fig. 1st is a transverse section on line 14-111 oi Fig. 12;

Fig. 15' is a plan view oi' a blank for producing a. ladder 1G is a transverse section on line 16--16 oFig. 15; A

Fig. 17 is plan view of the portion of a ladder produced from the blanlr oi Fig; 15 ;r

Fie. 18 is a tra-nsversesection on line 1818V oi 17 and 19 is a transverse section of a modied forni of ladder stock.

ln the manufacture of stairs and ladders as heretofore practiced ithas been necessary to provide a plurality oi elements oi:` tl structure required ot the pro-per form and mensions and by hand labor assemble theetructure desired with a result that when an order is received' for the steel tor a building including stairs or ladders as a necessary part: of the order, the tonnage production oi the Jifactoiy iillingthe order has dropped very greatlyv during the time that the. stairs or ladders were being produced making these portions of the building very much more expensive per ton than the remainder of the building.

By the provision of the process and articles provided by the present invention:y it is possible to produce these portions of theY building at a cost not markedly greater than the cost of the remaining steel for the building. To this end for the production of a flight of stairs from a single piece of material, the blanl of F ig'. 1 may be provided coniprising a single plate of steel which when manipulated according to the process of the invention will produce a flight of stairs without any important waste.

ln the manufacture of stairs as heretofore practiced, in order to provide stringere for the stairs of the desir-ed channel cross seetion, it was necessary to use stool; channels, and all fo 'ms of stock channels have been unnecessarily heavy for this purpose. It was therefore necessary to use a greater weight of steel than that actually required for the purpose. By the provision of the present invention, only the weight of steel necessary to carry the load may be used by choosing a thickness for the plate shown in Fig. 1 as desired.

and plate steel may be had in any desired thickness within reasonable limits.

As shown in Fig.v 1 the plate of steel isy to` provide the treads of the stairs, the ends of the plates thus bent coming into Contact with the web of the channel formed by the sides of the plate shown at 30, 31.111 7 and may be secured thereto by line welding.

rlhe portions of the center of the plate .of

'Fig'. 1 which is left integral with the sides thereof isshown in the lower portion of Fig. 2 as bent into a rounded nosing 32 and the portion of the nosing which is freed from the sides of the plate-by virtue of the fact that the slits 10 and 11 extend a'short distance beyond the slits'12 is folded along the fold line 33 to producea depending lip 34 shown in Fig. 2 and against which a separate plate 35 may be inserted if it be desired to add risers to this form of stairs.

To receive the lower edgesof suchV risers, the plates to 29, inclusive may be turned up along the fold lines 36 to provide the lip 37. It will be seen that a complete and operative flight of stairs thus produced from a single piece of material without the interposi-tion of the risers 35, these risers only be- |The sheet is also folded ing necessary when a nished appearance is desired to be given to the flight of stairs.

To provide for the attachment of the stairs to the frame of the building in which they are to be installed, the top and bot-toni, the top only being illustrated, are formed in the manner shown in Figs. 1 and 2, wherein the end of the plate throughout the portion thereof which forms the treads and the top flanges 17, 13 of the stringers is left square and wherein a portion 38, 39 is lcut at an angle and severed by slits 4f), 41 from the body of the plat-e. rlhe thus freed portions of the niaterial forming the webs of the flanges of the stringers are then bent to the position shown in F 5 vto provide the attaching ears 42, 43 which may be perforated and attached to the header of the stairway lwith which the stairs are to be assembled.

rllhe lower Vend' of the stairway will be formed with like ears attachable to the floor from which the stairs are to rise, these ears falling into a plane parallel with the treads 25.429 inclusive. The Vcomplete stairway thus produced with the risers 35 in positiontively in Figs. 6 and 7.

A modified form of Stringer is shown in Fig. 4 in which a plate such as shown in Fig. 1 without the fold lines 13, 14, 15, 16, has its side portions bent downwardly along the line of slits 10, 11. and has the side portions `along lines 19, 20 folded inwardly to produce the bottom flanges 44, 45.

The treads `and their lips in this form may be the saine as that shown in Figs. 1-5, 6 and 7 and the stairs thus produced will not be provided with upper flanges upon the stringers. rFhe same width of treads may thus be provided yin this fornil with a less over-all width of stairs. Y

As shown in Figs. 8, 9, and 10, a fligl'it of stairs is produced having only plain side stringers and treads 46 with rounded nosings 47 and which are adapted to be produced from the blanlr shown in Fig. 8 having slits 49, 50, and 51. In this form of material, itkmay be necessary to waste portions of the tread plates at their free edges, if the pitch so requires. it being understood that the treads of this form of device will be line welded to the stringers thereof in the inanner already described by the first described form of the invention.

ln Figs. 11 to 14, inclusive, the plate shown in Fig. 11 from which the stairs are to bc produced is slitted along lines 52, 53, the plate is then heated and the material freed by the slits is stretched about the fold lines 54 and deflected from the plane of the plate in the manner illustrated in Figs. 12, 13, whereby treads and risers are produced from the bod;T of the plate.

To produce this form of stairs it may bc necessary tosubject the plate to a plurality llll llU

ldesired, the thus formed ladder 1f, @nog aro offbeat-ing andvv stretching processes-'resulting in' aatliinningoft thel plate-in the portions; inL dica-tedin Figs. 121 and 13, until the-deflected portions reachthe position# shown; Ini this tornr oitV the invention thel plateA shown in' Fig: 1=1`lias its sid'eportionsbent downwardly along the-lineot' slits 52; 53; toprovider the Stringer portions 55, 56"- sliownlin and the edges. of't'he'A plat-esi are-folded? along' the lines; 57,. 58? to the; position shownf in; Figr `14s forming lowerllangess 5.9,` 66 shown; in such: figure; standingf underthefthin pontion at the juncture of the treads 61 .anditliefri'sers 62 of this form of the invention. At this thin portion, tlie treadsaredesirallly line welded to tliefsi'destringers 55?, 5.6i asA indicated at `68 in Fig. 13. Y

lf desired, the material forming the flanges 34: of Figs. 1-7 or A7 of Fig. 9 may be turned upwardly to enclose the front edge of initially plastic tread material which it may be desired to use as a finish for the stairtreads.

To produce a ladder according to the present invention, a special form of steel is rolled to the form shown in cross section in Fig. 16, which steel is generally channel shaped in cross section `having flanges 64, 65 and a web 66. The center portion of the web 66 is rolled with a rounded enlargement 67. The thus formed channel member is then slitted along the lines 68, 69, 70, being lett integral with the flange member 66 at points 71, 7 2. The thus slitted channel member is then sub jected to an expanding metal operation whereby the side members 7 3, 711 oit' a com plete ladder are separated from each other and the rounded portions 67 are brought into parallel positions shown at 75, Fig. 17, to

provide round rungs of a ladder extending between the angle side members thereof. It may be spot welded at the points 7 6,- 77.

A modified iorm of ladder stock is shown in Fig. 18 comprising a flat plate having the thickened centralfportion 67 for production of the rungs which may be slitted in the manner shown in Fig. 15 and which may be turned downwardly along lines at 76, 77 into the dotted line position of said ligure to provide the portions 645 and 65.

The production of this form of ladder will be seen to be entirely machine work and any length of ladder within the limits of available steel stock of Fig. 16 or 17 may be produced by merely ruiming the stock through the nec essary machinery to carry out the process.

ln furtherance of one ofy the objects of the invention, as shown, each of the parts of each structure is so proportioned and arranged with respect to the remaining parts that the whole structure is produced from a continu ous piece oi' material or blank, without openings from which material is cut to waste. By continuous7 blank in the claims is meant that the blank or piece of material from which the structnnel is; prcduc'edf by: slitting andi distorte tion-A iswithout? such openings asY result'l inf waste.y l

Minor cliangeslmay be=inadeinftlie physical embodimentofthe: iinention` or in the steps of the process withinv the scope4 oi? the appendedfclaims without departing from the spirit* thereof;

` lllleclainrz' 1`. A structure of the class described'comr prising-I side supponting members andi. tread: members eonnectingfsaid'- supp orti ng nmemb ers and: integrallr tlrenewitlriat ai portion of each'.4 et the ends oftlie'tread members," said: members beirripinned ri''romaf. continuous bl ankzby slitL and:` distortionon soi th at substanti ally neimaterialtoty the blanlnisfdiscardedt 2. A structure of the class described comprising spaced supporting stringers, parallel tread members integral at a portion of each of theirends with one of said stringers and occupying spaced parallel planes, portions of said tread members falling between said stringers and being enclosed thereby.

3. A stair comprising in combination, spaced supporting stringers, tread members each integral at one portion of'each end with a portion of said stringers, said tread members each having an upwardly projecting flange upon its inner edge anda downwardly projecting flange upon its nose, and risers between said stringers and in contact with the flan ges of the adjacent tread members.

4;. A stair comprising in combination, spaced supporting stringers having inwardly directed flanges upon their lower edges, spaced tread members integral at each 'of their ends at one portion `thereof with a portion oi said stringers, said tread members occupying spacedparallel planes and being enclosed between said stringers and having an edge of each resting upon said inwardly directed flanges.

- v 5. A stair comprising in combination, spaced supporting stringers, integral tread and riser members, each integral at one portion of the ends thereof with a portion of said stringers, one each of said tread and riser members integral at one edge, said integral edge falling between said stringers.

6. A stair comprising in combination, spaced stringers, each comprising an u oper flange of sheet material folded upon itse i', a web member integral with the lower portion of said flange, spaced tread members occupying parallel planes, each tread member integral at a portion of each of its ends with a portion of the upper portion of said ilange, said tread members being `enclosed at their ends between said webs.

y7. A stair formed from an initially flat sheet of material having'` tread members severed therefrom except at the nosings thereof by slits intermediate the margins of the sheet, said vmargins turned into parallel planes perpendicular to the common plane of said nosings to provide supporting stringers and said tread members bent out of the initial plane of the sheet to positions in parallel i planes between said stringers, the ends of said tread members secured to said stringers.

8. A stair formed from an initially flatslieet of material having tread members severed therefrom except at the nosings thereof by slits intermediate the margins of the sheet, said margins turned into parallel planes perpendicular to the common plane of said nosings to provide supporting stringers and the edges of the sheet turned into a plane parallel to said common plane to provide edge flanges upon said stringere, said treadmembers bent into parallel planes to positions between said stringers and having their ends secured to the inner surfaces of said stringere.

9. A stair formed from an initially iiat sheet of material having treads and risers each integral at one edge With the adjacent riser and tread, said treads and risers severed from the sheet except at the nosings thereof by slits intermediate the margins of the sheet, said margins bent into spaced parallel planes perpendicular to the common plane of the nosings to provide supporting stringers, said treads and risers bent to positions between said stringers.

WTALLACE W. SMITH. VERNON B. TREVELLYAN. NELSON J. JEWETT. 

